Experiencing Interruptions?

[Posthuman Wombs]

"We need to learn to think of the anomalous, the monstrously different not as a sign of pejoration but as the unfolding of virtual possibilities that point to positive alternatives for us all.... the human is now displaced in the direction of a glittering range of post-human variables." - Rosi Braidotti

[Posthuman Wombs] is a digital essay, an interrogation of non-normative pregnant bodies. It is a virtual trip through a cartography of posthuman physicalities which aims to reshape dominant representations of pregnancy.

The work deals with mutation and transformation and with the potentials of 'worldbuilding', the creation of digital, reality-expanding worlds. Visitors are taken on a tender journey into the womb of The Pregnant Posthuman by virtual performers. The production is a hybrid of a spatial sound environment and a VR trip into which visitors are invited in small groups.

The Pregnant Posthuman does not see itself as a centre, but as a variant. It understands nature and technology not as opposites, but as a continuum. It is an attempt to think being and becoming differently. The Pregnant Posthuman helps us to question prevailing notions of pregnancy and deconstruct the ever- smiling white cis woman holding her belly in joyful anticipation.

  • Anna Fries
    Director
  • Malu Peeters
    Director
  • Anna Fries
    Writer
  • Anna Fries
    Producer
  • Malu Peeters
    Producer
  • Anna Fries
    Lead Artists
  • Malu Peeters
    Lead Artists
  • Ambrus Ivanyos
    Key Collaborators
  • Ambrus Ivanyos
    Technical Artist
  • Lisa Kaschubat
    Animation
  • Manuel Tozzi
    Animation
  • Malu Peeters
    Music
  • Malu Peeters
    Sound Design
  • Tra My Nguyen
    Room Design
  • Brandy Butler
    Key Cast
  • Anna Fries
    Key Cast
  • Olivia Hyunsin Kim
    Key Cast
  • Ncube
    Key Cast
    "Bibi"
  • Fercha Pombo
    Key Cast
  • Kübra Uzun
    Key Cast
  • Ju Hahn
    Key Cast
    "Wheelymum"
  • Malu Peeters
    Narrator
  • Anna Fries
    Narrator
  • Tra My Nguyen
    Costume Design
  • Project Type:
    Virtual Reality, Installation
  • Genres:
    Sci-fi, Speculative, Music, Philosophical
  • Minimum Runtime:
    28 minutes
  • Maximum Runtime:
    35 minutes
  • Average Runtime:
    30 minutes
  • Variable Runtime Details:
    [Posthuman Wombs] is a hybrid of a spatial sound installation and a VR experience. Each round up to 5 people can simultaneously experience the work seated inside the spatial sound setup. The 'onboarding' of the audience in the beginning is slightly unpredictable timewise, as we want to make each audience member, wether or not having prior experience with VR, to feel comfortable before starting. This thus slightly depends on how much time each audience member needs to be ready to start the experience, but generally differs varies between 2-5 minutes. After a brief introduction by the installation guide/host, the experience then takes off and is lasts 28'40" until the audience are asked to take off their VR headsets again. Each audience member is allowed to leave the installation in their own time.
  • Completion Date:
    November 17, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    24,387 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Netherlands
  • Language:
    English
  • Student Project:
    No
  • IDFA - International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam 2021
    Amsterdam
    Netherlands
    November 19, 2021
    National Premiere, Netherlands
    IDFA Official DocLab Selection 2021, IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction 2021 (Nominated)
  • IDFA - International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam 2021
    Amsterdam
    Netherlands
    November 20, 2021
    IDFA Official DocLab Selection 2021, IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction 2021 (Nominated)
  • IDFA - International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam 2021
    Amsterdam
    Netherlands
    November 21, 2021
    IDFA Official DocLab Selection 2021, IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction 2021 (Nominated)
  • IDFA - International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam 2021
    Amsterdam
    Netherlands
    November 22, 2021
    IDFA Official DocLab Selection 2021, IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction 2021 (Nominated)
  • IDFA - International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam 2021
    Amsterdam
    Netherlands
    November 23, 2021
    IDFA Official DocLab Selection 2021, IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction 2021 (Nominated)
  • IDFA - International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam 2021
    Amsterdam
    Netherlands
    November 24, 2021
    IDFA Official DocLab Selection 2021, IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction 2021 (Nominated)
  • IDFA - International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam 2021
    Amsterdam
    Netherlands
    November 25, 2021
    IDFA Official DocLab Selection 2021, IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction 2021 (Nominated)
  • IDFA - International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam 2021
    Amsterdam
    Netherlands
    November 26, 2021
    IDFA Official DocLab Selection 2021, IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction 2021 (Nominated)
  • IDFA - International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam 2021
    Amsterdam
    Netherlands
    November 27, 2021
    IDFA Official DocLab Selection 2021, IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction 2021 (Nominated)
Director Biography - Anna Fries, Malu Peeters

Anna Fries & Malu Peeters have a longstanding collaboration in the context of the performance collective Henrike Iglesias (DE/CH) and the game theater collective machina eX (DE/CH). The two are passionate about virtual possibilities, immersive experiments, and taking audiences to unfamiliar places while creating safe and tender spaces.

Anna Fries (CH, 1986) is a maker of performing arts based in Amsterdam and Berlin. They studied Cultural Studies and Aesthetic Practice at the University of Hildesheim and work as an independent director, stage designer and performer. Anna Fries co-founded Berlin-based game theatre collective machina eX, and was in charge as artistic director from 2014 -2018. Their interactive performances and installations toured internationally to a.o. Greece, the USA, and were invited to a.o. Impulse Festival, Donau Festival and Sommerfestival Kampnagel. In 2019 machina eX received the George Tabori Preis from Fonds Darstellende Künste. Furthermore, Anna Fries is co- founder and member of feminist performance collective Henrike Iglesias, which has toured expansively in the German speaking countries. From 2018-2020 Henrike Iglesias received the Doppelpass funding in collaboration with Münchner Kammerspiele and junges theatre basel. Anna Fries also directed shows in German state theaters, such as Staatstheater Braunschweig, Staatstheater Karlsruhe and Schauspielhaus Bochum, the latest work being the world premiere of I LOVE DICK (Chris Kraus) at Staatsschauspiel Dresden. In season 2019/2020 Anna Fries were a participant at the post-graduate program of DAS Theatre at the Amsterdam School of the Arts.

Malu Peeters (NL, 1984) makes (spatial) sound and music for XR installations, performing arts, radio and (experimental) film. She studied Composition and Image & Sound a.o. at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, and was PA to composer Louis Andriessen from 2009 – 2014. Since 2012 she regularly collaborates with game theater collective machina eX (DE/CH). She is a fixed member of Berlin and Basel based performance collective Henrike Iglesias whose shows OH MY (2018) and FRESSEN (2019) toured internationally to a.o. imagetanz-Festival Vienna, Heidelberger Stückemarkt, FIBA Buenos Aires, Brut Wien, Münchner Kammerspiele, Sophiensaele Berlin. Besides the performing arts she works as supervising sound editor and sound designer for films and documentaries. Malu Peeters also makes spatial audio design for installations that exhibited a.o. at Eye Film Museum Amsterdam, Humboldt Forum Berlin (both with Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese), Centraal Museum Utrecht (with Louis Andriessen & Madelon Hooykaas) and Fondazione Baruchello Rome (with Erica van Loon). Malu Peeters lives and works in Amsterdam and Berlin.

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Director Statement

When artist Anna Fries was pregnant, they didn’t feel at all like the stereotypical image of the expectant parent—a woman with hands clasped over her belly, her face glowing, gazing blissfully into the distance. A dominant image that leaves little room for those who are pregnant but do not identify as female, or for the reality that being pregnant can be mentally and physically challenging. High time, then, to de-romanticize and de-feminize pregnancy.

This hybrid of spatial sound installation and VR experience invites you to enter the virtual womb. On this trip you will encounter digital versions of six actual posthumans and their states of virtual pregnancy. [Posthuman Wombs] is part of a major long-term project by performing artist Anna Fries and sound artist Malu Peeters. They are researching pregnancy in relation to body politics and the subversive potential of virtual representation.